Iklan Aesthetics in Niger - IA de Investigación especializada en el MIT

Estética Iklan en Níger

Identity and Adornment from
Servility to Self-agency

Cynthia J. Becker and Brian Nowak

Silver pendants, camel saddles, and leather bags are

typically featured in museums and books as ex-
amples of Tuareg art. These finely crafted objects
were made for upper-status families or so-called
nobles by artisans belonging to a class referred to as
inaden. Such an approach emphasizes the striking
objects commissioned by men and women who held the high-
est status in Tuareg society but ignores the objects produced by
and for people in the lower strata, including the descendants of
enslaved people. Commonly referred to as iklan, they constitute a
diverse, socially and economically marginalized group with a dis-
tinct culture that has driven markets while creating new styles of
visual representation.

Iklan are referred to as buzu in Hausa and bella in the Songhai
language in Niger.1 Since the colonial period, ethnographers have
translated the term iklan as “slave” or “captive.” Iklan (sg. akli/ekli)
can best be described as a socially stratified group constructed from
the descendants of outsiders who found their way into Tuareg soci-
ety either because they were captured or purchased, or because they
joined a Tuareg group in search of protection. As we will see, the very
name iklan presents problems of translation and identity, especially

Cynthia J. Becker is associate professor of African art history in the History of
Arte & Architecture Department at Boston University. She has authored numerous
publications on Amazigh art and culture and recently published the book Blackness
in Morocco: Gnawa Identity through Music and Visual Culture (UMN Press, 2020).
cjbecker@bu.edu

brian (“Barké”) Nowak tragically passed away, after completion of this article, en
Niamey, Niger in November of 2021. He was an independent scholar and consultant
based in Niger, with a passion for anthropology, ethnomusicology, desarrollo, y
education. He lived, travelled, and worked in Niger for nearly eighteen years, incluido
teaching for the Boston University study-abroad program and consulting for field
research and assessment projects. He was programs director for the NGO Rain for the
Sahel and Sahara and a research consultant and contributor to the African Language
Materials Archive. Fluent in Zarma, Nowak made a profound impact on everyone
who knew him, including countless Nigeriens and almost every American who traveled
through Niamey in the last two decades. He tirelessly documented music and oral tra-
ditions across the Sahel and leaves behind an incredible legacy of photographs as well as
audio and video recordings.

10 | african arts AUTUMN 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 3

in relation to the larger Tuareg society in contemporary Niger.

This article provides a nuanced look at Tuareg visual culture by
concentrating on how formerly enslaved communities have been
forging new identities in the twenty-first century (Higo. 1). It con-
siders how iklan have used visual culture to engage in resistance
estrategias. As asserted by Michel de Certeau, marginalized groups
subvert “rituals, representaciones, and laws imposed upon them” and
transform them into something quite different, deflecting the power
of the dominant social order (1984: xiii). It is through this lens that
we can understand and interpret iklan aesthetics as “tactics” to gain
autonomy from hierarchies of power. We examine the choices con-
temporary iklan communities, as a historically marginalized popu-
lación, are making to represent their identity, sometimes adopting
elite Tuareg aesthetics, often drawing inspiration from newly avail-
able goods in the market, or adopting the aesthetics of neighboring
gente. These various responses to the abolition of slavery and the
breaking down of endogamous social categories reveal how the for-
merly enslaved use visual culture to negotiate their status and resist
against the hierarchies that historically marginalized them.

We take a comparative approach and concentrate on two
Tamasheq-speaking regions of Niger: the Tillabéri region along the
Niger-Burkina Faso border and the Tahoua-Agadez region within
Niger (Higo. 2). We explore the different tactics used by iklan in aes-
thetic expression and consider the various institutions and market
forces that have contributed to the refiguring of iklan self-identity.
A comparative approach allows for a detailed understanding of
how postcolonial economic policies, access to markets, nongov-
ernmental organizations, and societal change have impacted the
visual culture of iklan in rural Niger, as they solidify their identi-
ties in response to established social hierarchies but also forge new
ones far removed from the history of enslavement.

This article draws from both independent research and collabora-
tive work on both sides of the Niger-Burkina Faso border, where iklan
communities have managed to grow and survive despite multifaceted
obstacles.2 The activism of various NGOs in these two areas, así como
the tendency for low-status individuals in Tuareg culture to express
their sentiments without reserve, meant that iklan actively shared

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their experiences with us.3 Unfortunately, deteriorating security con-
ditions starting in January 2012 resulted in attacks and kidnappings
of Nigerians, other Africans, Europeans, and Americans, haciendo
any further trips into the Agadez, Tahoua, and Tillabéri countryside
impossible without a military escort. Such attacks have increased in
recent years, negatively impacting some of the most socially and eco-
nomically marginalized people within Niger, especially iklan.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ENSLAVEMENT IN NIGER
While this article concentrates on Tuareg societies in Niger, it is cru-
cial to recognize that enslavement was a historical practice deeply em-
bedded within the Saharan-Sahelian region of northwestern Africa.4
Slavery is by no means unique to Tuareg culture, but the race dynam-
ics that classify elite as light skinned and equate low status with dark
skin are unique to Tuareg and Arab society in the region. Racialized

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1 A group of iklan women travel to the
Tegue market in the Tillabéri region. Family
and friends enjoy the hours-long journey as
a time to spend away from the daily grind.
Going to the market is also an opportunity
to purchase household necessities unavail-
able in the countryside. Tegue, Niger, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

2 Map of Niger
Drawn by Svetlana Matskevich, 2021

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3 This man and women were working together
to collect wild isiban seeds that historically
provided a food reserve from the end of the
rainy season into the cold season, a time when
nomadic families would temporarily settle. Este
activity was undertaken throughout the Sahelien
belt of Niger by servile classes, oftentimes
women, often by order of an upper-status leader
who assembled a large group of women for the
wild harvest seen here, followed by husking and
winnowing to isolate the tiny grains. North of
Ayerou, northern Tillabéri region, Niger. 1960s.
Photo: Edmond Bernus

In the late nineteenth century, French colonization of Niger re-
sulted in a policy that outlawed slavery, although the policy was
ambiguous at best (de Sardan 1984; Klein 1998; Lovejoy 2000). El
scholar of law Thomas Kelley describes the colonial situation in
Niger as follows: In the early twentieth century, French colonial
policies outlawed “slave raiding, caravan, markets, y ultimamente
any sale or exchange of slaves, but looked the other way when it
came to individuals and families possessing them” (2008: 1010).
French officials feared the Tuareg nobles allied with them would
rebel if forced to manumit their slaves (Hall 2011a: 220).

It is important to recognize that across the Sahel, the decline of
slavery varied quite markedly among different Tuareg groups and
in different regions. Susan Rasmussen noted that by the mid-twen-
tieth century, many slaves had been absorbed into Kel Ewey noble
families after manumission, although they retained the status of
jural minors to be cared for by their former enslavers, retaining a
marginal and ambiguous social position. Located in the northern
Agadez region of Niger in the Aïr Mountains, intermarriage be-
tween nobles and descendants of slaves sometimes occurred, indi-
cating that Kel Ewey had become less endogamous and less con-
cerned about class affiliation (Rasmussen 1997: 3). Intermarriage
has led to variations in skin tones, complicating colonial era no-
tions that all dark-skinned Tuareg were enslaved.

Bruce Hall, sin embargo, writes about a very different situation
in postindependence Mali. By the mid-twentieth century, iklan
began to abandon noble families as new opportunities for wage
labor arose, pero, as noted by Hall, when servile people migrated to
labor for wages or work in petty commerce, noble families often
followed and demanded a share of their wages (2011a: 222). El
history of slavery also colored postcolonial government policies
in Mali. The Malian government stereotyped Tuareg and Arabs
as racists and slaveholders. In an attempt to reduce the political
and economic power of Tuareg elite, they attempted to liberate
definitively iklan and grant them property rights (Hall 2011a:
319). Malian strategies to empower socially subordinate people
and eliminate feudal class-based categories led to a perception by
noble Tuareg (and Arabs) that they would have no place in the
Black-ruled postcolonial nation. Both the Malian government
and Tuareg rebels engaged in the racialization of identity, y esto
contributed to a series of Tuareg rebellions against the national
gobierno. Desafortunadamente, conflict continues to plague northern
Mali today (Hall 2011a: 319–23, 2011b: 65–66).

In Niger, the postcolonial national government did little to
combat slavery after independence in 1960. At independence, el
colonial apparatus was handed over to a class of Nigerien leaders,

categories present in century-old written accounts in Arabic distin-
guished between sudan (“Blacks”) and bidan (“Whites”), con el
former associated with slavery and servitude. French colonial officials
used the word bellah as an overarching term to distinguish anyone
with dark skin in Tuareg society as enslaved, reinforcing the racializa-
tion of Tuareg status categories (Hall 2011b: 63–64).

Within Tuareg society itself, there is a well-established hierarchy
that includes elite “nobles” (imajeghen—literally “the free ones”),
a second class of people known as “vassals” (imrad), and Islamic
eruditos (known as Kel Essouk or ineslemen), who occupy the
top rungs of Tuareg society. The inaden (artisans) make elaborate
leather, wooden, and metal objects for these three classes, incluir-
ing tools and weapons as well as jewelry used to mark status, semejante
as silver crosses, bracelets, and anklets for women from noble fam-
ilies. The lower classes, in descending order, include the iderfan
(manumitted slaves), ighawalen (manumitted slaves tied to partic-
ular low-status crafts), and iklan. Sin embargo, these social categories
must be understood as reference points and labels that demon-
strate where social divisions historically existed. This essay empha-
sizes how individuals and communities are redefining these social
boundaries in the twenty-first century.

Although typically defined as “slave” or “captive,” the iklan social
class historically referred to people with various relationships to
noble families. Iklan often served as domestic servants within a
noble household, existing in a fictive, patronizing kinship rela-
tionship with nobles. Nobles described themselves as “parents” to
slaves and referred to the enslaved as their “children” (Rasmussen
1997: 16). Some iklan, sin embargo, lived in self-reliant, distinct com-
munities geographically removed from noble families, with noble
families requiring a percentage of the harvest or animals raised by
iklan. If a drought and/or food shortage occurred, nobles could set
up camp and claim any crops and animals raised by iklan, provid-
ing Tuareg nobles with a safety net. This demonstrates the wide
control nobles had over iklan even if they were not physically pres-
ent in an area (Baier and Lovejoy 1977: 408).

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In contemporary rural Niger, we met
many iklan who continue to work for
noble families, herding animals for them
and relying on nobles to provide for them.
al mismo tiempo, these elderly men and
women encourage their children to travel
to Niamey or outside of Niger to look
for work, not wanting them to be stuck
in servile positions. We met others who
chose to integrate themselves into non-
Tuareg communities, no longer speaking
Tamasheq, practicing sedentary agricul-
tura, and even learning new trades, semejante
as pottery. Despite efforts to create a new
identity for themselves, their servile status
remains. Anthropologist Oliver Gosselein
recounted that many Zarma in rural
southwestern Niger think of themselves
as higher status than their iklan neighbors,
no matter how much iklan have integrated
themselves into the local community, stat-
ing that, “Everybody knows they are Bella,
no matter what they call themselves or
what language they speak” (2008: 157–58). Iklan generally remain
linked to rural livelihoods, but when they do move to urban areas

known as les évolués (“the evolved ones”), who comprised a small
number of men who attended French schools and adopted the
French language and culture. Some were sons of traditional chiefs
but many were iklan. Tuareg elite often refused to send their chil-
dren to French schools, sending instead their servants, who learned
the skills that allowed them to land jobs in the colonial administra-
ción. This complicated Nigerien postcolonial responses to slavery.
Elite Tuareg and others in positions of governmental power often
wished to maintain the power hierarchy, as they realized that their
wealth and status depended partially on slavery. The descendants
of enslaved people tended to downplay their families’ former ser-
vile status. Neither were motivated to recognize the problem of
slavery in Niger and it continued as before (kelly 2008: 1011).

4 These anklets demonstrate the diversity of
metal alloys and shapes available. Most forms include
bulbous ends that are oriented towards the front of
the foot, some include a flat center which would rest
on the Achilles tendon. The perfectly round design of
the model seen at the bottom center of the photo-
graph and its pair on the right center of the photo are
the only two anklets that use a closed-model, trian-
gular-tongue insert that must be knocked from the
inside in order to open and knocked on the outside in
order to close the anklet, locking it in place. Ayerou
market, Tillabéri region, Niger, 2008.
Photo: Brian Nowak

5 The festival attire seen here presents a collection
of a woman’s best silver adornments that highlight her
prestigious status by representing wealth accumulated
in the form of jewelry. The aleshu headscarf is a pres-
tigious fabric that is expensive and naturally perfumed
with indigo dye, that also rubs off easily on the skin.
The woman in the background is wearing a sequined
shirt, a new style reminiscent of the shine once only
attributed to silver and indigo in women’s fashion.
Festival of Iferouane, Aïr Mountains, northern Agadez
región, Niger, 2007.
Photo: Thomas K. Seligman

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iklan families work for him without monetary compensation, y
co-ruled with an elected iklan mayor (Eriksen 2010: 68). Sin embargo,
such situations are increasing rare, and iklan communities are re-
sponding to and redefining historical boundaries that once rele-
gated them to a marginal status. Iklan use visual culture to engage
in creative acts of resistance to the hierarchical power structures
that once controlled them.

IDENTIFYING HISTORICAL AND
CONTEMPORARY IKLAN AESTHETICS
Very little visual evidence exists that can tell us about the servile
classes in Niger in the early to mid-twentieth century. One excep-
tion is a photograph from the Tillabéri region by scholar Edmond
Bernus from his first trip to Niger in the 1960s. Bernus photo-
graphed a lower-status woman and man working and wearing
simple, unadorned dark-colored garments with minimal jewelry
(Higo. 3). Bernus identified the man and woman as “captives” who
were forced to collect crop seeds after the end of a harvest for a
local Tuareg leader (Bernus 1999). The photograph gives us a sense
of the clothing and jewelry worn by iklan. These could have been
second-hand clothes of the nobles for whom they worked or in-
expensive material purchased for them; since cloth was not made
by Tuareg themselves, imajeghen had to travel great distances to
source new clothes (Bouman 2003: 278). The unidentified woman
has no headscarf and wears bracelets made of imported, plastic
seed beads sewed on leather that can still be found in the market

in Niger, like the capital of Niamey, they often take the lowest
status jobs that involve high labor and low pay, performing jobs
that other ethnic groups do not want to do, such as delivering
water to people’s homes (Keough and Youngstedt 2019: 74). Like
other economically marginalized people in Niger, including elite
Tuareg impacted by droughts, la violencia política, and other events,
iklan men and adolescent boys may travel to coastal cities in West
Africa for work when basic needs cannot be met by rural or urban
economies in their homeland.

As this brief history demonstrates, the current situation for iklan
in Niger and across the Sahel remains extraordinarily complex,
and in most areas intermarriage is rare. Despite efforts to negotiate
a new status for themselves, if a lack of alternative opportunities
for survival exist, some iklan have maintained historic social struc-
turas, relying on former “masters” to support them. Además,
nobles occupying traditional roles of rulership may refuse to give
up their positions of power. We met a traditional noble chief in
2009 in Bankilaré, a Tuareg village in southwestern Niger. He felt
entitled to be at the top of the social hierarchy, continued to have

6 An iklan woman wears dark clothing and
brass anklets, both historically indicative
of servile status. Damergou region, central
Niger, 2006.
Photo: Brian Nowak

7 Assibit Wanagoda and her mother
posed for a photograph outside of the town
of Tamaya, Niger, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

14 | african arts AUTUMN 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 3

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of the curators of the exhibition Art of Being Tuareg: Saharan
Nomads in a Modern World, which was organized by the Iris & B.
Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University and
the Fowler Museum at UCLA from 2006 a 2007. The exhibition
largely featured silver jewelry similar to those worn by the women
En figura 5. Cocurator Kristyne Loughran indicated that “classical”
styles of silver jewelry worn by the women in Figure 5 tendría
been specially commissioned by a noble family and produced by
inaden (2006: 169). As noted by Loughran, “Tuareg women would
not consider themselves properly dressed if they were not wearing
a bracelet, anillos, and other pieces of jewelry, which they believe en-
hance their beauty while symbolizing their age and social position”
(2006: 179). Both women are clearly dressed in their finest cloth-
ing and jewelry, wearing shiny aleshu, large earrings, and layers of
pectoral ornaments, including amulets (tcherot) and various styles
of crosses. Their jewelry demonstrates some of the features typical
of noble jewelry aesthetics, with intricately incised surface decora-
tions on a flat piece of hammered silver, requiring time-consuming
work and using expensive materials.

The exhibition and its accompanying catalog provided an in-
ventory of various functional and aesthetic objects while demon-
strating the changing patron-client relationship and its impact on
visual culture, concentrating on artisans (inaden) and nobles (ima-
jeghen) (Seligman and Loughran 2006). Little has been published
about the changing aesthetics of formerly enslaved populations as
they entered the twenty-first century. In some areas, formerly en-
slaved communities wear the same dark cloth and brass anklets as
the woman in Figure 6. This woman from the Damergou region
in central Niger wore a necklace and hanging hair pendant made
from inexpensive plastic beads that recently became available
in the market. In some cases, a minimalist aesthetic might con-
tinue out of current poverty or historical habits; sin embargo, in other
cases market forces contribute to the development of completely
new trends. Slight adaptations to jewelry, hairstyles, or clothing
may eventually turn into larger trends. Just as the inaden now
have new freedom in terms of clients and do not work exclusively
for nobles, iklan have new freedom in terms of choice and self-
agency, as they are no longer bonded by upper-class perceptions.

hoy. Iklan anklets were made of inexpensive copper alloys, también
still sold in markets today, such as Niger’s Ayerou market, cual
are most likely liquidated heirlooms sold by a woman or family
facing extreme desperation (Higo. 4).

The jewelry worn by the unidentified iklan woman in Figure
3 can be compared to that worn by noble women, which would
have been made from silver or silver alloys—prestigious mate-
rials. Por ejemplo, the two women in Figure 5 each wear dark,
bluish black indigo-dyed cloth called aleshu, which would have
been pounded until it shimmered. As noted by Susan Rasmussen,
aleshu was favored by noble women since the mid-twentieth cen-
tury, and because it was cloth acquired through trade, its expense
meant that low-status woman seen in Figure 3 would not have
worn it (2006: 142).

The photographer of Figure 5, Thomas K. Seligman, was one

8 The cover of a French antislavery publica-
tion in which brass anklets serve as a symbol of
servitude. 2010.

9 This young newlywed couple sat for a
portrait in a home representing the start of a
new phase of their life. The fine sand on the
ground was brought in from a dry river bed, y
most of the decorations and household items in
the house were received as part of dowry and
gifts from the wedding. Some of the items are
functional but also represent important items
in Tuareg culture, such as the wall-mat, the tent
posts, and the yellow and red leather pillow
while the new carpets and enamel dishware
proudly present contemporary forms of deco-
ration and abundance. Ayngam, Tillabéri region,
Niger, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

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10 A small girl looks at her temporary new
home, an eheket, or leather tent, eso es
portable and easy to set up during periods of
migration. Her parents temporarily settled
on an island in the Niger River north of
Ayerou to pasture their animals in an area
clearly greener than the rolling hills of the
mainland seen in the far distance. Iklan and
Fulani herders settle among the various
islands that they reach by canoes, swimming
their animals across what may be multiple
passages of river before reaching the island
that is their final destination. Island in the
Niger River, north of Firgoun, Tillabéri
región, Niger, 2008.
Photo: Brian Nowak

11 This man dressed in brightly colored
garments rode his camel from the country-
lado, seen here arriving in the main village
on his way to the weekly market. Taratako,
Tillabéri region, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

to work in that area (Tidjani Alou 2000: 176–77). Created in 1991,
Timidria pushed the Nigerien government to adopt aggressive
antislavery legislation in 2002, with strong penalties for anyone
convicted of holding slaves. Timidria has played a major role in
drawing international attention to the issue of slavery in Niger and
works with such international organizations as the London-based
Anti-Slavery International and Oxfam. Its Nigerien members
travel to remote areas of Niger, locating enslaved people in order to
help them achieve liberation, often taking their enslavers to court.
In defining slavery and servile status, Timidria states that, mientras
a person may not be physically held by force, they may occupy a
subservient and marginalized mentality. Por lo tanto, some of their
most significant work involves what they call consciousness-rais-
En g. That the group focuses on Tuareg society is evident in its name
Timidria, a Tamasheq word that translates as “fraternity-solidarity”

Our comparison of two different regions of Niger highlights two
different avenues to self-agency and considers both the historical
and contemporary opportunities and boundaries that iklan nav-
igate. This approach demonstrates how communities adapt and
change within their regional sociocultural context, responding to
NGO interventions and the consumer world of market fashions
in order to forge new sociopolitical relationships, both within and
outside of Tuareg society.

IKLAN SOCIAL REFORMS IN THE TAHOUA-
AGADEZ BORDER REGION
The small town of Tamaya is a relatively new settlement along
the main road between the regional centers of Tahoua and Agadez,
both with considerable Tuareg populations (Higo. 2). Edmond
Bernus notes that since the 1960s, Tuareg spent the dry season in
Tamaya, reflecting the fact that this area
was part of an established seasonal migra-
tion pattern where nomads moved accord-
ing to pastureland resources (1982: 103).
In the past, people settled there for part of
the year but, with the creation of a paved
road completed in the 1980s, Tamaya de-
veloped into a roadside town that drew
people from the countryside. A market
was developed, allowing for fixed settle-
ments and access to goods, gente, y un
weekly confluence of diverse people from
the surrounding area.

During the postcolonial period, iklan de-
veloped complex and varied relationships
with nobles, and in some situations they
continued to hold slave status, especially in
the rural areas surrounding Tamaya. Este
was one of the factors that motivated the
Nigerien antislavery NGO called Timidria

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(Galy 2004: 75). As noted by Nigerien scholar Mahaman Tidjani
Alou, Timidria valorizes the hard work historically done by the
former enslaved and places it in contrast with the “mythical image
of the noble warrior as is presented in classical ethnology” as a
lazy man who lives off the blood and sweat of others (2000: 181).
Timidria encourages the formerly enslaved to denounce nomadic
life and settle in villages, building wells and schools and choosing
their own local rulers (Tidjani Alou 2000: 182). Timidria also en-
courages the rejection of clothing and jewelry historically worn by
iklan as markers of slave status, especially women’s anklets.

In an interview with the former president of Timidria, Ilguilas
Weila stated that people in Niger recognize anklets worn by iklan
women as negative symbols of enslavement. The organization en-
courages women to remove them as a symbol of liberation.5 Assibit
Wanagoda, seen in Figure 6 with her mother, has been featured
in the international press extensively, becoming an example of
the work done by Timidria (ver, Por ejemplo, Rudebeck 2004).
She recounted that she had been enslaved her entire life but after
severe mistreatment by the noble Tuareg family who “owned”
her, she ran away after hearing about an organization that could

12 The stall seen here is typical of an iklan
oriented stall that also serves as a meeting
point for friends who may come and go
throughout the day. The fabrics on display
would be identifiable to all ethnic groups
in the region as iklan-preferred. Taratako
Market, Tillabéri region, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

help her. She left the nomadic encampment and walked 30km to
a Timidria office in the central Nigerien town of Tahoua and met
Weila. Members of Timidria traveled with her into the countryside
in order to confront her enslaver and, fearful of imprisonment, él
released her and the rest of her family.

Timidria most famously worked with international antislavery
organizations to help Assibit Wanagoda press charges in a Nigerien
court against her former enslaver. Although she fled in 2004, her
case did not come to court until four years later. The Nigerien court
awarded her $3,321.06 in restitution for her fifty years of enslave- mento. Her enslaver was given a one year suspended sentence and a fine of less than $165.79 (Hepburn and Simon 2013: 245). Her case
took years to come to court because in the early 2000s, el gobierno-
ment of Niger denied the existence of slavery, going so far to place
Timidria’s president Ilguilas Weila in prison for several months in
2005, accusing him of fraud since, according to government offi-
cials, slavery had been eliminated in Niger (Vasagar 2005).

Wanagoda stated that Timidria provided her with financial as-
sistance for the first few months but since then she felt abandoned
by them. She also complained about the calluses that resulted from
wearing heavy anklets, explaining that “they hurt my ankles be-
cause I was always chasing after my master’s donkeys … but I did
not know any better.”6 Timidria, she explained, taught her that
this jewelry represented slavery and oppression and she removed
a ellos. De hecho, numerous people in the Tahoua Region of Niger
recounted that enslaved women were forced to wear such anklets
and bracelets to stop them from running away—comparing them
to shackles. Sin embargo, as the collection of anklets seen in Figure

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Galy’s Slavery in Niger (2004), which was published by Timidria
en 2010, the cover features two anklets as symbols of oppression
(Higo. 8). De hecho, the impact of Timidria’s campaign was so pro-
found in the region near Tahoua that several people who had been
manumitted from enslavement or ran away from their oppressors
approached Becker to recount their personal stories. In Tamaya,
Timidria always played a major role in iklan stories, indicando
how this organization prompted people in the region to be hy-
peraware and active in rejecting their former slave status, as per
the NGO’s narrative.

While it is tempting to view the rejection of heavy anklets as an
example of liberation promoted by an antislavery organization, el
actual situation is much more complex. Timidria’s ultimate goals
can be contextualized as part of a nationalist debate concerning
the ethnicities that should be identified in the nation-state, con un
overarching Tuareg identity preferable to one that recognizes the
hierarchies in Tuareg societies. Rather than have noble and slave
classes, Timidria advocates that iklan simply redefine themselves
and adopt the aesthetics of the noble class. In addition to heavy
anklets, iklan women told Becker that headscarves were reserved
for women higher on the social hierarchy than them. Iklan did not
cover their heads, adorned their braids with cowries and pieces
of money, and often went topless. Timidria encouraged iklan
women to reject anklets and other forms of dress from the past
and encouraged them to rename themselves. lmou Immi, a local

4 demonstrates, none of the anklets would have been impossible
for enslaved women to remove. Por eso, their current classifica-
tion as shackles seems exaggerated, especially given the fact that
other groups within Niger wear similar anklets without associating
them with enslavement.

These anklets became the primary symbol that Timidria ad-
opted to evoke the oppression of slavery. In the French version of

13 Around fifteen stalls in the Ayerou
market are dedicated to jewelry. When they
have money to spend, women pass a great
deal of time looking at the hanging bead
bracelets and necklaces and sifting through
the diverse beads, pendants, earrings, brace-
lets and necklaces, keeping up with fashion
trends and creating new ones. Ayerou
market, Tillabéri region, Niger, 2008.
Photo: Brian Nowak

14 Djibrilla Seidi circulates the markets of
the Bankilaré Department in the north-
western Tillabéri region and wanders from
village to village between market days. Él
sells and buys silver and silver alloy materials
from both iklan and nobles, who often need
the money to survive. He resells to vendors
linked to markets for tourists and collec-
tors in the capital of Niamey. The metal
alloy triangular earrings are popular among
Fulani women in the region, as well as iklan.
Taratako market, Tillabéri region, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

18 | african arts AUTUMN 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 3

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hierarchical differences that continue to exist within contempo-
rary Tuareg societies, which are based on racialized constructions
and unequal access to power and resources. Sin embargo, the goal is
a rejection of the stereotypical image of the light-skinned, noble
Tuareg on a camel and inclusive of the darker-skinned, marginal-
ized segments of Tuareg society.

Timidria’s goal is liberation, but it also introduces itself as a pow-
erful player in framing the discourse on slavery in Niger. Timidria
identifies cases of contemporary slavery in Niger, represents and
advises former slaves, confronts the Nigerien justice system, y
engages with international antislavery organizations. While the
NGO is Tuareg-founded, some people question the motivation
that drives the group’s members, which could include altruistic
sympathy, coercive retribution towards nobles, or even taking ad-
vantage of a loaded subject to raise money from the international
comunidad. Además, Timidria has had limited success in the
Nigerien courts, largely due to the influence of noble Tuareg on
jueces, who often want to retain traditional social hierarchies. En
the same time, iklan are also concerned about retaliation; muchos
are not aware of their legal rights, and if they are manumitted, ellos
lack alternative livelihoods and do not trust law enforcement or
Timidria to make their situations better.

While nongovernmental and governmental structural parame-
ters for understanding and defining slavery continue to develop,
Timidria’s insistence that women reject previous styles of dress

member of Timidria, told Becker that the descendants of enslaved
people in Tamaya refuse to be called iklan, associating the name
with enslavement and a history of marginalization. Rather they
call themselves Kel Tamasheq (meaning “people of the Tamasheq
language”), rejecting hierarchical classifications. Used by intellec-
tuals, Kel Tamasheq is an identity term that encourages a move-
ment towards an egalitarian and inclusive Tuareg society. Usando
a term that unifies a group based on language ignores the blatant

15 An entire section of the Ayerou market is dedi-
cated to the black, embroidered tunics that feature a
variety of designs and can be purchased or ordered at
the market. There are at least twenty men who work
as tailors, with some introducing new embroidery
styles, starting new trends. The men in the back wear
black and white fabric and turbans, which are typical
styles of the past. The woman and tailor wear a new,
inexpensive, synthetically dyed headscarf and turban,
reminiscent of the expensive aleshu indigo-dyed fabric.
Ayerou market, Tillabéri region, Niger, 2007.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

16 A woman in Ngari modeled her silver headdress
for us, which she placed on top of her intricate braids
and crested hairstyle. While wearing the headdress,
she was motivated to sing and clap, and she encour-
aged us to join her, since such headdresses are
reserved for special, celebratory occasions. 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

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can be seen as patronizing. The impact of Timidira on iklan visual
culture in the Tahoua-Agadez region cannot be denied, especialmente-
cially when Tamaya is compared to the northern Tillabéri region
of Niger where new iklan aesthetic styles take full advantage of
market items (Higo. 2). In the Tillabéri region, iklan women wear
anklets and elaborate braided hairstyles, deflecting the power of
historically dominant social orders to control them while shaping
their own identities.

DEFINING A CONTEMPORARY IKLAN
AESTHETIC: EXAMPLES FROM THE
NORTHERN TILLABÉRI REGION
The majority of the formerly enslaved who settled in the Tillabéri
region broke ties with noble families in the mid-twentieth cen-
tury. In one example described by historian Martin Klein, iklan in
Menaka, a region of Mali located 100km north of the Niger border,
rebelled against their enslavers in 1946, many leaving fields un-
harvested and fleeing overnight. This revolt was decisive in ending
the control of nobles over the enslaved class, who moved into the
northern Tillabéri region (Klein 1998: 234; Hall 2011b: 73–74).
This heavily forested area was sparsely populated. By using their
skills in surviving with scarcity, families herded and cleared land
for agricultural fields, establishing communities without any tense
competition for natural resources.

Another advantage of the area was its proximity to the Niger
River and seasonal tributaries. Within the countryside surround-
ing the riverside market town of Ayerou, near the Niger-Mali
border, established riverside communities and scattered hamlets
and camps in the surrounding countryside included Songhai,
Fulani, Korgo (Hausa fisherman), and river-based Kurtey, who in-
teracted with iklan families. Some iklan saw opportunities in spe-
cific artisanal skills and found new market conditions for produc-
En g, trading and selling goods, an experience that they were unable
to exploit when the profits of their labor were directed toward
noble Tuareg families.

In the Oudalan area of Burkina Faso, just west of the northern
Tillabéri region, the demographics are very similar with a band

of majority iklan communities in Burkina Faso, with a greater
density of nobles across the border in Mali. Safia, an elderly iklan
woman, recounted her experience from servile status to freedom
to the anthropologist Annemarie Bouman, underscoring the real-
ities of enslavement:

We lived on a compound with almost fifty huts, four of those inhab-
ited by iklan. We all belonged to this same family. My father herded
their goats. He milked them … In former times, the millet you culti-
vate is for the Imouchar [a lineage of nobles]. The men cultivate the
millet, the women pound the millet, but it is not for yourself … We
trabajó, but those [noble] women lay always on their beds. Cuando
you enter her hut [of the woman you work for], she is sleeping. You
wake her up. You give her a massage: the hands, the feet. You give her
agua. You give her milk, which you hold to her mouth like this … I
would not like to work for them again, unless they paid me for my
trabajar (Bouman 2003: 68–69).

According to Bouman, the contemporary status of iklan should be
separated from the historical period of servility when iklan existed
in the lowest social stratum of Kel Tamasheq society. Repression,
servitude, and dark skin, Bouman argues, should not be the major
force that identifies iklan in contemporary Tuareg society.

When visiting the small village of Ayngam, near the market vil-
lage Taratako, the new lifestyles forged by people in a postslavery
society became evident to us. Ayngam is a combined community
of lower status crafts workers known as ighawalen (second to iklan
on the lower end of the hierarchical class system), iklan, and inaden
(artisans). As a potter, the woman in Figure 9 identified herself as
part of the ighawalen class and the man as an artisan.7 His family
removed themselves from former Tuareg noble relationships and
began to produce farm tools and jewelry for ighawalen, iklan, y
other ethnic groups in the surrounding communities. This couple
lived in a round adobe house with a conical thatch roof, similar to
those built by Fulani and Songhai in the area, demonstrating the
impact of nearby groups on their lifestyle. Por ejemplo, the three
vertical displays of enamelware were adapted from the wooden
bowl or calabash holder. Unlike Tuareg nobles, Songhai and Fulani
women in the region make displays of various household objects.

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17 These young women approached Becker in
the Ayerou market, curious to meet a foreigner
and to compare jewelry. Young women take the
opportunity in the market to socialize with friends
and to have relative freedom from life at home,
where they would be busy with domestic chores
such as pounding millet, hauling water, preparing
meals, doing laundry, and helping to take care of
their siblings. Ayerou market, Niger, 2007.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

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18 Iklan women wear coins and brightly colored
pendants. Each individual style helps identify
where a woman comes from in the region. Nota
that in most of these photos from the Ayerou
market, women are not wearing head-scarves to
display their adorned hair; the only women with
fabric on their heads in the background of this
photo have simply rolled a cloth to protect their
head from the heavy firewood bundles that some
women sell to help make ends meet. Ayerou
market, Tillabéri region, Niger, 2007.
Photo: Brian Nowak

The couple retained the carved tent posts and grass-reed mats used
by nomads for their portable leather tents, seen in the background
on the left side leaning against the wall mat. Although sedentary
families only use them as decorations, adding factory-made car-
pets, some newlyweds move around in leather tents to grow wealth
through herds (Higo. 10). When families settle, they may keep their
tent posts to adorn their homes or buy some for sale in markets;
tent posts are used more for decoration than for holding up tents.
Demands for products like the tent posts have led to market op-
portunities that are not linked to an elite clientele, or even to tents
en algunos casos. Lower-status communities now have the freedom to

be producers and consumers, and inaden are not required to have
ties to particular noble families (Rasmussen 1995: 592). Nobles
may see inaden as having downgraded their status by working for
iklan while inaden see themselves improving their status by reject-
ing the idea that their status and identity is ultimately determined
by their linkage to nobles.

If we consider the literature on Tuareg art, the style of dress worn
by iklan men in the Tillabéri region is very different from the ste-
reotypical image presented to us of Tuareg men, often referred to
in Western circles as the “Blue People of the Sahara,” due to their
use of indigo fabric that stains skin. As previously discussed, indi-
go-dyed cloth was expensive and once served as a status symbol
reserved for elite Tuareg men and women. Iklan men have now
expanded the color palette from dark-colored cloth to brightly col-
ored fabrics (Higo. 11). These new styles of cloth have formed a new
iklan style of dress, which would not be worn by imajeghen, OMS
typically preferred contrasting, uniformly colored, black and white
fabrics, with dark, indigo-dyed fabrics being the most prestigious.
The multiple influences incorporated by iklan contrast with the
standardization of style typical of the more reserved preferences of
the noble character. The reserved style of dress of imajeghen men
and women typify the idea of takarakit, meaning “reserved” and
“controlled,” one of the tenets of Tuareg noble behavior.

Iklan choose fabrics following a new color palette of bold colors,

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19 Two young, recently married women
approached Becker for a photograph. Ambos
are wearing hairstyles influenced by the Fulani
groups in the area. Sin embargo, the arrangement of
the coins are unique to iklan. Ayngam, Tillabéri
región, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

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Another influence on changing iklan aesthetics, one that is
linked to economic hardship, is travelling jewelry merchants as-
sociated with both rural and urban market centers. It is common
to find mobile vendors in the markets and circulating from village
to village selling a variety of low-cost items including those spe-
cializing in jewelry. Travelling vendors like Djibrilla Seidi would
set up stalls in weekly rural markets (Higo. 14). Seidi also told us
that he circulated the countryside to buy metal alloy jewelry from
iklan, buying them or trading them for plastic beads, bracelets, y
anklets. Desde 2000, crystallike plastic beads entered the Nigerien
market as large-scale commercial vendors in the capital Niamey
extended their sourcing to commercial hubs like Dubai and China.
Some of this plastic jewelry has led to new fashion trends among
iklan women, especially those with red, verde, and clear beads, como
seen in Figure 14 next to the metal jewelry. Market influences and
purchasing power seem to provide the only obstacles that restrain
creativity as iklan represent themselves through a new aesthetic in
the northwestern Tillabéri region.

typically on a dark field, featuring bold abstract designs with pre-
dominantly deep reds, dark greens, dark blues, purples, and black.
Their market choices have led to vendors dedicating a section of
fabrics targeting this clientele; even within the local diversity, otro
ethnic groups recognize these fabrics as iklan-preferred. Demands
from iklan consumers now determine the choices merchants are
making when purchasing bulk merchandise to be sold in small
town and rural markets. This has provided opportunities for iklan
men to create iklan-to-iklan microeconomies, keeping the wealth
in the community (Higo. 12). These new color themes also became
prevalent in some men’s choices for turbans and tunics; lo harían
have been unthinkable as status symbols in the past and contribute
to status enhancement today.

Despite the absence of nobles and being generations removed
from slavery in many cases, women in the Tillabéri region con-
tinue to wear anklets, including the woman shopping at the jew-
elry section of the Ayerou market in Figure 13. Uninfluenced by
the antislavery society Timidria, who are less active in this region,
women were not pressured to abandon their anklets, nor did they
identify them as symbols of exploitation. It is interesting to note
that pastoral Fulani women who also live in the area wear metal
alloy anklets with no association to servility. Iklan women’s copper
alloy anklets may be inherited as heirlooms and matrilineal wealth
and kept as valuable jewelry. Women could choose to liquidate
jewelry, like the anklets, in local markets during difficult times. En
some areas of the Tillabéri region, women have abandoned metal
anklets. Bastante, they have created a new fashion trend, preferring
to wear plastic anklets instead.

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2022/5/12 16:12

ESTABLISHING NEW STYLES OF DRESS IN THE
AYEROU MARKET
Ayerou is located on the Niger River and is the most import-
ant regional market in the area, attracting people from neighbor-
ing Mali and Burkina Faso (Higo. 2). Históricamente, numerous ethnic
groups visited the market to trade local produce and livestock, en
addition to basic household goods. From independence until now,
itinerant merchants brought relatively inexpensive items such as
glass and plastic beads, guided by market trends, for consumers to
purchase for self-adornment. Fashions supported by the opportu-
nities in the Ayerou market reflect the exchange of ideas and avail-
able materials, the establishment of a new identity, and economic
opportunity. Men create large tunics from inexpensive black cloth,
sewing colorful, intricate embroidery around the neckline and the
front of the tunic (Higo. 15). The existence of new styles demon-
strates the relative stability that iklan communities are able to es-
tablish, represented by the production and sale of these clothes that
independently sustain the needs of their own communities.

Goods sold in the market include a variety of hair pendants for
iklan women. In postslavery Niger, upon their first pregnancies,
iklan women go through elaborate and expensive ceremonies
to publicly acknowledge their change in status from girlhood to
womanhood. Until the mid-twentieth century, nobles would fi-
nance these costs for the enslaved women who worked for them,
but now iklan are doing this for themselves. The ceremony, called
tamangad, involves hiring a specialist to braid a woman’s hair
and to adorn it with silver, agate, and plastic pendants purchased
by her father (Bouman 2003: 168–72). The elaborate braiding is
sometimes accompanied by headpiece made from silver coins,
silver ornaments, agate pendants, with a conical tassel on top that
is worn during the ceremony. Women then set it aside and wear it
for holidays and very special occasions, demonstrating how some
iklan in the Tillabéri region have managed to accumulate signifi-
cant amounts of wealth in recent years (Higo. 16). Hairstyles have
unique, regionally specific styles not associated with noble Tuareg;
iklan incorporate new aesthetics into the rites they can now con-
trol and initiate themselves.

Innovation typifies iklan women’s dress and jewelry in Ayerou as

individuals congregate and display their best looks for the weekly
market day. Individual choice and purchasing power influence the
development of increasingly diverse styles that can relate to gen-
der-specific, age-specific, and locality-specific differences. Encima
tiempo, the incorporation of iklan into the growing population in
the area has led to some intermarriage and, en algunos casos, this is
also reflected in the way that people represent themselves. por ejemplo-
amplio, two young women in the Ayerou market (Higo. 17) colored
their faces with yellow pigment typical across Kel Tamasheq areas
throughout Niger. Sin embargo, tattoos and other styles of permanent
facial markings are not practiced by Tuareg women, and these
women used the permanent facial markings of Kourtey, namely the
cross motif found on the center of the cheek, for their temporary
markings. Given that Kourtey are a relatively small ethnic group
in Niger, found only along the Niger River, it is unusual that these
girls would have borrowed this sign without having some type of
familial connection to Kourtey, perhaps indicating intermarriage.
Además, the young woman on the left side of the photograph
tattooed her bottom lip, which is a typical Fulani practice that can
also be seen among Kourtey with Fulani familial connections.

The young woman on the right displayed one example of inno-
vation by wearing small, colorful, rojo, yellow, and blue pendants
on her necklace preferred almost to the point of exclusivity by
the Wodaabe, a Fulani subgroup in northern and eastern Niger.
De hecho, they are so closely linked to Wodaabe identity that other
groups living in proximity to the mostly nomadic Wodaabe com-
munities in Niger, including iklan of the Agadez, Maradi, Tahoua
and Zinder regions of Niger, would not consider wearing these
pendants. Iklan women in Ayerou, sin embargo, appropriated them
and created a new style. This is one example of how different pen-
dants from the market can be incorporated into new fashion styles.
Iklan women in the northern Tillabéri region have some of the
most intricately braided hair in Niger. Pendants made from plas-
tic, coins, and pendants, some that were once the purview of ima-
jeghan, are all woven into the hair of iklan women. Algunos de los
more expensive items, like coins or agate pendants, often have a
cheaper plastic equivalent, as seen with the colored plastic, coin-
sized discs in Figure 18. Some of these patterns represent locally

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20 The arduous process of constructing this
style of home can only be accomplished through
collaborative work, where the stick-pole frame
is only the very beginning. The cross-thatched,
millet-stalk dome frame that sits on the sticks,
providing the structure for the roof, and takes
coordinated effort, requiring some women to
pass millet stalks while others weave them into
each other so that the ends do not overlap;
bunching them tightly, they then tie them
together to secure the stability and durability of
the structure. Ngari, Tillabéri region, 2009.
Photo: Cynthia J. Becker

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VOL. 55, NO. 3 AUTUMN 2022 african arts | 23

specific styles that help to identify where someone lived or came
de, and many styles are borrowed from nearby ethnic groups.
Por ejemplo, the young women in Figure 18 were wore colorful
fabrics with individualized hairstyles that incorporated materials
influenced by the Fulani groups in the area, such as the rectangu-
lar orange agate beads seen descending from the long, thin braid
hanging along their temples. Similarmente, their incorporation of large
coins is similar to those Fulani women in the area typically used;
sin embargo, the patterns created by the arrangement of the coins are
unique to iklan. These metal alloy coins were meant to replicate
the older Maria Theresa thaler silver medallions that were once
popular and highly valued by elite Tuareg. Accumulating this kind
of jewelry shows status and also serves as an economic cushion,
something to liquidate for quick cash in desperate times.

Iklan women in this region typically fix the ends of the thin
braids with a natural, homemade paste called tikarawrawan (pl.
isakarawrawen) created by grinding seeds from the acacia nilotica
árbol, a thick oil (such as butter or shea butter), and charcoal (Figs.
16–18). The mixture is cooked, kneaded, and placed at the bottom
of a woman’s braid to prevent fraying and provide an aesthetic of
movement as they work or walk. In an interview with the former
president of the antislavery NGO Timidria, Weila described the
braid-fixers used by women in this region as backwards and dirty
and he felt they should no longer be worn, seeing them as a rem-
nant of the women’s slave past.8 While Timidria has done import-
ant work drawing attention to the ongoing prevalence of slavery,
its rejection of visual culture associated with iklan does not fully
capture the dynamics of identity and agency that characterizes
contemporary Niger.

CONCLUSIÓN: DYNAMIC IDENTITIES, MUTUAL
COOPERATION, AND CURRENT CHALLENGES
As the examples presented from the Tillabéri region demon-
strate, iklan do not rely on the government, the courts, or con-
sciousness-raising seminars held by NGOs such as Timidria to
reform old hierarchical categories by imposing changes from
arriba. Communities are aware of their previously marginal po-
sition within Kel Tamasheq society. While many elite Tuareg and
neighboring ethnic groups continue to see iklan as the lowest-sta-
tus group in the region, they themselves have created a system of
mutual cooperation, self-agency, and socioeconomic stability.

Iklan in the northwestern Tillabéri region have benefitted from
the diversity of ethnic groups and the availability of goods in local
markets in the establishment of new livelihoods and aesthetics,
which has helped to sustain and increase the vitality of their own
communities. As consumers, they have influenced the products
that vendors supply as well as creating iklan-to-iklan internal
economías, assuring that wealth circulates within the community
as they continue to define their place in a postcolonial, postslavery
sociedad. As both consumers and producers, they have control over
how they self-identify, situating themselves within the diversity
of their own communities and neighboring ethnic groups, ben-
efiting from the decades spent in the area and the relationships
they established. They may have been encouraged by the success
of their dramatic exit from bondage and the new land that they
were able to secure.

In contrast, along the Tahoua-Agadez border region, el

24 | african arts AUTUMN 2022 VOL. 55, NO. 3

NGO-led initiative allows iklan to benefit from the sociopolitical
clout of the organization, and some receive support through the
transition process, yet there are also constraints placed on them. Como
they leave the judgements of those that dominate them, Timidria
also influences and even imposes change, leaving iklan with a new
set of characteristics to fulfill that are not initiated by individuals in
the community itself.

During our time in the Tillabéri region, we happened upon
a partylike atmosphere in the small, rural village of Ngari. El
women were working together to construct a large home for one
woman’s family (Higo. 20). Made from sticks, palm-frond rope, y
millet stalks, this style of home is typical of the agropastoral iklan in
the area. This communal housebuilding is not unique to the iklan,
but in many ways the context represents the coming together of in-
dividuals, familias, and environmental and sociocultural resources
to support, improve, and shape lives. After many months of living a
single-parent lifestyle, the home owner was preparing for her hus-
band’s return from an annual coastal migration. Like other desper-
ately poor communities in Niger, subsistence lifestyles no longer
provide enough food for the year and adult and young men travel
to countries along the Atlantic coast for months to secure income,
especially Côte d’Ivoire (Boyer 2005: 44–46).

This new home represented a new beginning for this family and
invoked the solidarity of women in the community to support
entre sí. Like an agricultural harvest, the returning husband will
bring home what he has earned, marking an important moment in
the annual cycles of subsistence for this family and demonstrating
self-agency. The majority of iklan in the northwest Tillabéri region
have created a livelihood that is no longer bound by linkages to a
Tuareg elite or the stereotypes forced upon them; it is a lifestyle
that is not hierarchical but one of mutual aid.

In some cases, vestiges of the Tuareg hierarchical system still
existir. As previously discussed, when we visited the Bankilaré de-
partment of the Tillabéri region, an upper-status Tuareg man re-
tained his hereditary tribunal position of leadership, known as the
amenekol. A pesar de la 98% iklan demographics, he held onto po-
litical clout and dominance. To iklan in the area, this man and his
position represented a vestige of former hierarchies; sin embargo, iklan
have also worked their way into local politics and have acquired
political and administrative positions. Eighty years removed from
the rebellion in Mali that initiated a large iklan migration and re-
inforced the development of this iklan dominant area, individu-
als have significantly succeeded in entering the local government,
sixty years after independence.

As noted by Bouman in her work in Burkina Faso, no single
iklan identity exists. Some groups are looking to leave their servile
past behind and others try to expand their boundaries to turn iklan
identity into something positive (2003: 280). Desde 2012, new se-
curity threats posed by jihadists and bandits are undermining the
fragile stability of Niger, especially in the Tillabéri region, escalat-
ing to the date of this article. Based across the border in Mali and
Burkina Faso, attackers continue to wage terrorist campaigns and
stage assaults involving theft, extortion, kidnapping and murder.
En 2020, one iklan described the compounded situation:

Actualmente, we can no longer go to areas where we used to pasture
our animals—the conflict situation makes transhumance very diffi-
cult. We are facing two problems. Por un lado, the existence of

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bandits or jihadists—I do not know what to call them—who take
zakat samples [obligatory religious offerings] from our animals; en
the other hand, there are the SDF [Nigerien Security Force] oper-
ations which persecute us. These SDFs confuse any Fulani or Bella
with a jihadist, they commit atrocities in our area (quoted in Bøas,
Cissé, and Mahamane 2020: 122).

Insecurity concerns are intense and it becomes clear that new
opportunities for oppression through religious and political in-
stability introduce new acts of domination through increased
banditry, coerced religious extremism, and modern politics
that lead to the fear of new structures of exploitation returning
to old frameworks that were in the process of being dismantled
to varying degrees. They clearly impact the weakest and most
discriminated-against and hinder communities’ determination to

create better lives for themselves.

Rural iklan communities confront compounded challenges of
environmental degradation, increasing poverty, and a lack of qual-
ity education and health care opportunities to improve the quality
de la vida. As iklan adorn themselves with new, innovative aesthetic
styles to establish a sense of independence and self-identity, ellos
succeed in liberating themselves from imposed identities that la-
beled them as subservient. In the struggle to escape from gener-
ations of domination and servility, as well as the contemporary
struggles that mount up against them, iklan negotiate their own
identity as they search to improve their lives and assert self-agency,
expresión, and pride as they reevaluate and redefine a new visual
culture for themselves.

Notas
This article is dedicated to Sue Rosenfeld, who passed
away before its completion. A longtime friend of Nowak,
she spent the majority of her life in Africa as an educator
and opened her house to visiting scholars in Niamey,
including Becker.
1 The hierarchical classifications present in Tuareg
society are so well established across Niger that
Songhai, who share the same territory, have their own
indigenous words for them. Bella is a general word
used by Songhai to refer to all Tuareg, including nobles
and slaves, but they distinguish between the “red”
bellas (bella cirey) and the “black” bellas (bella bi), y
also have specific names for each of the subcategories
associated with stratification in Tuareg society.
2 Both authors engaged in independent research
on the topic of iklan visual culture, speaking with
organizaciones, local leaders, and rural communities
and individuals in Niger. The sensitive subject matter
required that we pay special attention to our relationship
to people and our approach when talking to upper status
or lower status individuals. Similarmente, iklan, si
someone who has recently removed themselves or
somewhat removed themselves from bondage, or those
that have been generations removed from bondage, todo
have different sensitivities and responses to questions of
identity and the history of slavery. Becker interviewed
members of the international antislavery NGO Timidria,
who facilitated some of her contacts in northern Niger.
In response to the activism of Timidria in this region,
people with a history of enslavement actively looked
for her to tell their stories. Some of Nowak’s research
included experiences in Tuareg villages and camps
through his work with development organizations in
various roles. These contexts can impact people’s re-
sponses so care was taken to distinguish between devel-
opment narratives and ethnographic information. Ambos
authors’ independent field research included preselected
and randomly selected villages in different regions,
including individual and small group interviews, y
homestays, spending time in different communities,
markets and small towns.
3 See Rasmussen (1997: 15) for a discussion of how
iklan and smiths served as informants due to their lack a
reserve, a quality greatly valued by Tuareg elite.
4 See Hall (2011a) for an overview of slavery and the
complex racialized dynamics in West Africa.
5
Cynthia J. Becker. Niamey, Niger.
6
by Cynthia J. Becker. Tamaya, Niger.
7
agropastoralism while supplementing income by
producing lower-status crafts, such as pottery and basic
reed mats. Ighawalen are typically the descendants of
the servile class who have gained manumission.
8
Cynthia J. Becker. Niamey, Niger.

Ighawalen is a name given to a class that practices

Interview with Assibit Wanagoda, Julio 26, 2009,

Interview with Ilguilas Weila, Julio 1, 2009, por

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